Knights awarded provincial honour

Founded in April by the Knights of Columbus of Divine Infant – in partnership with the Orléans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre (OCCRC) and Gloucester’s Bloom MicroTech – the initiative won the Best Community Program of the Year prize at a recent Ontario-wide Knights convention in Toronto, recounts chairperson Doug Drouillard.

Being handed the provincial award for their work “was very, very nice,” he describes. “It’s reconfirmation of that we thought we were doing something useful and other people appreciate it. It’s very much an approval status of what we thought we were doing well.”

Beyond recognition for the multi-partner project and its behind-the-scenes contributors, the honour will also hopefully promote and inspire similar programs with other Knights councils across the country, Drouillard suggests.

Back at home, the east-end group is still busy advancing the initiative, including recently being granted Microsoft-authorized refurbisher status, he explains, only the second group in Ottawa to achieve that accreditation. “It gives us a great deal more potential and capacity,” Drouillard says, specifically the ability to add licensed Microsoft operating systems to refurbished computers for $5 apiece. Any clients who prefer Linux will still be served, however, he continues, stressing that computers with a double-boot option may even be available.

The group is about to deliver their 20th computer to a client in need only months after what Drouillard calls a “successful” computer drive that garnered an estimated six tonnes of electronics, The initiative has proven so successful, he continues, the Knights will soon offer a donation to the Food Bank with excess funds from the project. That money comes from a number of received computers that were listed for sale online, Drouillard recounts, covering the group’s few operating expenses and resulting in a small profit. “The demand is there,” says Nicole Leduc, community developer for the OCCRC, speculating on why the program’s thrived thus far. “It’s growing every week. Families are in need; not everyone has access to a computer. The more the program is known, the more demand there is.”

Receiving a refurbished computer can impact a family or individual in a range of significant ways, she continues, including increased convenience, accessibility to resources and an educational component for students. “They’ll have the same opportunities,” Leduc explains. “It’s providing access for them to be introduced into the electronic era.”

Partnering with the Knights is also a boon for the resource centre, she suggests, since their own onsite computers are only available to clients during office hours. “It’s a plus; it’s a bonus for us,” Leduc adds. “It is making them more self-sufficient.”

With requests still flooding the OCCRC, the Knights are still accepting computers as well as newer mice and keyboards, explains Drouillard, but no CRT monitors or other electronic equipment. Another need is additional storage space for September, he continues, with the group currently using a temporary space and others taking part in the program from their homes.

Looking ahead, Drouillard says there is also discussion – in partnership with the National Capital Freenet – to form a local association of refurbishers, as well as a possible future association with a local high school to get students involved in the refurbishing process. The council is also considering an affiliation with a Hawkesbury-based technical college, after indication of a need for support for disadvantaged students from that area, Drouillard recounts. “(The program) is moving along quite well,” he adds. “It’s truly amazing.” For more information, please contact Doug Drouillard at knights-refurb@sympatico.ca or 613-830-3518.